The AP is reporting tonight that a U.S. House report has documented hundreds of discount loans to members of Congress, their aides, top government officials and Fannie Mae executives from the former Countrywide Financial Corp., “whose subprime loans helped start the nation's foreclosure crisis.”

The discounted loans were made between January 1996 and June 2008, and some were explicitly ordered up by Countrywide chief executive Angelo Mozilo under a VIP program known as “Friends of Angelo.”

The report seems to exonerate Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas.

He has denied getting any special treatment from Countrywide on a mortgage for his home in Dallas, and has insisted that he went out of his way to ensure that the lender treated him as it would any other customer. The House report supports that contentions. AP reports that while other lawmakers did get favorable rates and terms, “Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, was an exception. He told the VIP unit not to give him a discount, and he did not receive one.”

An aide to Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, a member of the Financial Services Committee, was among the recipients of a VIP loan, according to AP, which did not name the aide.